Premium measurement · MaxPulse
HRV describes how the time intervals between consecutive heartbeats vary. MaxPulse uses a short resting recording to create proprietary indices of stress, fatigue and autonomic regulation. They are useful for context and trend, but they do not establish a diagnosis or precisely measure “mental stress”.
Measurement principle
Heart rate says how many beats occur per minute. Variability uses the exact differences between consecutive intervals. MaxPulse records the pulse wave at the fingertip and derives short-term variability from the intervals between pulses, which the report labels as HRV. Technically, this is a PPG-based estimate of pulse rate variability (PRV), not an ECG recording.
Short-term PRV/HRV is sensitive to breathing, posture, time of day and preceding load. Device summary indices are not the same as standard ECG-derived HRV metrics and should not be compared one-to-one with a watch, ring, Holter recording or another algorithm.
Visual guide
This schematic timeline shows why beats per minute alone do not describe variability. It is not an ECG or a client recording.
Nearly equal intervals
same average heart rateNaturally varying intervals
same average heart rateSleep and illness
Recovery, inflammation and current health state
Breathing and posture
Breathing rate, sitting, lying and settling time
Load and emotion
Exercise, work, pain and acute mental load
Substances and time
Alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, medication and time of day
Fields in the portal and report
Verbal categories help orientation, but every field is only one part of the picture. It cannot identify the cause of a deviation.
A proprietary summary index of regulatory load at the time of measurement.
In the current report, lower is more favourable and the line at 50 belongs to the manufacturer’s scale. It is not a health-versus-disease threshold or a precise measure of nervousness.
The device assessment of the balance of autonomic influences during the recording.
Read it with activity, stability, heart rate and recording conditions. The shortcut LF = sympathetic and HF = parasympathetic is too simplistic.
A proprietary summary of the intensity of autonomic regulation.
The goal is not the highest possible number. Appropriateness, stability and your own baseline matter.
Algorithmic indices that summarise part of the variability into fatigue and stability categories.
They can respond to sleep, illness, exercise and acute load. They do not diagnose burnout, overtraining or a rhythm disorder.
A proprietary split of current load into two device indices.
Use them as screening context, not as objective proof of a physical or psychological state.
A device summary index described as the regulatory ability to cope with load.
A higher category is more favourable in the report. It is meaningful mainly alongside the other fields and repeated trend.
The number of intervals the algorithm marked as irregular during the short optical recording.
An optical artefact may look similar. Repeated findings or symptoms require ECG or clinical assessment.
The average heart rate during the HRV recording.
It complements HRV but does not say how variable the beat-to-beat intervals were.
Practical interpretation
Measure after several quiet minutes, without talking or movement, ideally at a similar time and a similar interval from food, caffeine and exercise.
Combine the stress score, ANS, fatigue, stability, PSI/MSI, resistance and heart rate. One field is not an overall verdict.
Age, fitness, medication and measurement method affect absolute values. Your own repeated trend is usually more useful than somebody else’s number.
When screening is not enough
Chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting, a new markedly irregular rhythm or repeated palpitations require medical assessment regardless of the HRV score. For a persistently changed trend without acute symptoms, first review measurement conditions; if the change continues or matches a decline in how you feel, discuss it with a professional.
Evidence and references
Heart rate variability: standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use
ESC / North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology · 1996
The foundational consensus on defining, measuring and cautiously interpreting HRV.
Advances in heart rate variability signal analysis: joint position statement
EHRA / ESC · 2015
A position statement on newer HRV methods and the need to validate device-derived indices.
Heart rate variability metrics and norms
Frontiers in Public Health · 2017
A review of common HRV metrics, physiological context and the limits of simple conclusions.
Heart rate variability and cardiac vagal tone in psychophysiological research
Psychophysiology · 2017
Recommendations for planning, standardising, analysing and reporting short-term HRV measurements.
Photoplethysmographic pulse rate variability versus electrocardiographic heart rate variability
Physiological Measurement · 2020
A review of the differences between PPG-derived PRV and ECG-derived HRV using electrical RR intervals.
MaxPulse Reading Guide and Operator Manual
MEDICORE · supplier documentation
The source for the names and intended meaning of proprietary summary indices; it is not a standalone diagnostic standard.
Related reading
Premium
The client portal presents vascular and stress screening together with InBody, blood pressure and grip strength so that the visit reads as one whole.